Has there been anything written about or discussed about Miles' use of heavy echo-reverb starting in the 60s?

It seems to be a definitive characteristic of "late-Miles." I just listened to one of the Plugged Nickel recordings and I was surprised to find it so heavy so early. For sure you can hear the seeds of that on KOB, but I thought that heavier sound came much later.

Thoughts?

At the amazing Guys and Dolls in London’s Bridge Theatre tonight. How had I never realised that Miles’s staple If I Were a Bell was from this musical?

Watched Miles at Montreux 1988 and it blew my mind. The band was on fire - especially Foley Mccreary. Immaculate vibes. I need more from this era.

Question: what year did this later jazz/jam band “era” start? I assume it ended in ‘91? But I definitely need more Miles in the vein of 1988. Thanks for your knowledge!

https://open.spotify.com/album/69IMyjpYKbsVfVWJXQDYRo?si=iyePJqM_R76UZISIMjvgqw

I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the day! Loving the 1963 stuff - I always enjoy the quintet with George Coleman...

For those who have never heard these shows and are fans of electric miles, remedy that today.

https://theheatwarps.com/2022/03/09/sao-paulo/

As usual, Heat Warps has collected them all into one spot.

All of the shows are great, but the two shows from June 1 are the absolute jaw droppers. These shows have audio quality that I would say is nearly on par with Dark Magus, and I personally think these shows are way, way better (and I love Dark Magus). Shows from all the other nights are great as well and relatively high def as well, especially if you are used to lowfi audience tapes. These were on stage recordings.

The music will speak for itself, no need to say more.

I thought I knew about most of Miles' discography, but after reading about the out-of-place vocal number at the end of Sorceror, I realised that Miles had done the number 'Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)' on the Columbia album Jingle Bell Jazz:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bell_Jazz

That was the session where he first worked with Wayne Shorter, so pretty significant in the long run. And now I know more about the session that originated Nothing Like You (I always knew that was a very odd inclusion on Sorceror, but had never looked at how it came to exist in the first place).

I made a YouTube playlist of all of the live video of Miles I could find on YouTube - TV appearances, concert films and interviews. I have done my best to put them in rough chronological order and avoid duplications.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlmdFdt1ZZtk_D3GZjeWIGQG_hKNXh--G

Feel free to point out issues / suggest additions. There's a lot of good stuff there, from Miles and Gil through the Second Great Quintet to Brew, jungle funk and 80s fusion.

Hail the Prince of Darkness!

Miles Davis - Blues for Pablo.00.avi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vybmAk-M1s

Miles Davis - New Rhumba.00.avi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN2nGX03CXc

(they are linked in order)

(You might have seen them before, I just personally had a hard time finding all the recordings from the TV special)

Miles Davis & Gill Evans Orchestra - The Duke (Live, 1959) (HQ)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL3A-o2D7pU&list=RDcL3A-o2D7pU&start_radio=1

Most upvoted will be added into the playlist Spotify playlist

Besides Pete Cosey, are there any other Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) members who toured or recorded with Miles? Is there anything on the record for what Miles thought of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, or any other AACM musicians/groups? Is there information out there regarding how Pete Cosey ended up with Miles?

I’ve been reading up on the AACM a lot lately, and there’s plenty of established admiration among members for Miles’ music, of course, but I’m curious if Miles had anything to say on the topic.

I included this picture of The Muhal Richard Abrams Big Band, which I thought might be of interest — You can spot Pete Cosey on the right hand side of the photo. This was taken in 1975, so contemporary with his time playing with Miles.

The 1972 live shows are especially far out and "psychedelic" to use a perhaps overused term. I always wished there were more recordings of the nonet. Cedric Dawson's playing was especially otherworldly. Anyone know of any super rare shows from the 1972 Nonet besides all the ones listed by Heat Warps (that's probably all of them but you never know)? What does everyone else think of this period in particular?

By the time the 1973 shows roll around the sound was totally different. Not for the worse necessarily, but I wish Miles had explored the direction he was going in in 72 a bit further. I think I'm the minority on this. I appreciate the fact that the music was sort of focused on building textures over rhythms more so than solos. It's an interesting contrast from most other music miles created throughout his career even during the electric period.

Edited because I confused Cedric Dawson's playing for that of Liston smith.

From the marathon quintet sessions for Prestige in order to fulfill the contract and jump ship to Columbia, to Miles having to play piano on a track on Milestones because he pissed of Red Garland, to a visiting Herbie Hancock dropping his groceries to rush and play an impromptu organ solo on Miles's Jack Johnson record. Seems like there's always some cool story connected to most of Miles's albums. What are some of your favorite stories connected to a Miles album?

Miles Davis ended up playing in very empty clubs in 1967 and had to turn to "jazz-rock" to support himself. But why didn't the same happen with Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Bill Evans and others? Was it the location? Then why didn't he change it like the others or something?

When I got this album on CD, I remember reading that the original recording, for whatever reason, was a half-step lower in key but was "fixed" for the CD release. I would love to own it on vinyl, as now that's the only way I consume physical media. I know that older versions resell for a pretty penny if you can find one, but I am just curious if the modem release on vinyl preserves the original error or if it's the remastered version.